PSYC1101 - Memory

cognitive psychology

the study of mental processes

cognition

a process that helps us take in information from the environment, store it, and retrieve it later

attention

the process of concentrating on specific features of the environment or on certain thoughts / activities

selective attention

 the ability to focus on one message and ignore others.

cocktail party effect

in a busy setting, we can selectively tune out all the background noise and focus on one conversation. If we hear information that is relevant to us (e.g. our name), we can still attend to it.

inattentional blindness

• the failure to detect something in front of us because our attention is elsewhere

• studied using eye-tracking tests

• e.g. stop sign

change blindness

• the failure to notice large and obvious changes because we fail to update our mental representations between views

• e.g. the engine on the aeroplane illusion

why does attention fail us?

• our attention span is limited - there is too much information in the world for us to process everything.

• Attention works by prioritising important information and filtering out less important info

visual pop out

 the idea that some basic features do not require attention to be seen

feature intergration theory

• process of selecting and binding features together

• the brain first notices simple features like colour or shape, then attention combines them into one complete object.

feature search

when an object stands out because of one unique feature

pop out effect

when an object immediately grabs attention because it is different from everything else

conjunction search

combining multiple features together to find the object

top down processing

• is conscious, purposeful and strategic

• our prior knowledge / context influences our perception of the stimulus

• e.g. finding waldo

bottom up processing

• with no prior knowledge/context, the stimulus influences our perception

• some things seem to grab our attention on their own without conscious thought

• e.g. loud noises often stand out in a crowd

attentional bias

• we pay more attention towards emotionally negative images over neutral images

memory

the process of recording, storing and retrieving past experiences and information

encoding

 taking information in from the environment and converting it to a form the brain can use

storage

keeping information retained over time

retrieval

bringing stored information back to be used in the conscious moment

process of memory

encoding -> storage -> retrieval

sensory memory - description

• info received from sensory organs

• info is stored/processed for a few seconds, before being lost or transferring to STM

sensory memory - characteristics

• encoding: as a sense (vision, hearing, touch, etc)

• capacity: very high

• duration: 0.5s (iconic) to 10 seconds (echoic)

working memory - description

• info is temporary stored and processed for use in the conscious moment

• elaborative or maintenance rehearsal must occur, or info is lost

working memory - characteristics

• encoding: mainly auditory

• capacity: 7 +/- 2 items (george miller)

• duration: 15-20 seconds

long term memory - description

• info is stored semantically and can be used for future revival

• can store an unlimited amount of info permanently (only lost when info is not used/rehearsed)

long term memory - characteristics

• encoding: semantically

• capacity: unlimited

• duration: lifetime

phonological loop

• processes spoken and written information

• operates in the temporal lobe

visual sketchpad

• processes visual and spatial information

• operates in the occipital lobe

central executive

• the control centre for the phonological loop and the visual sketchpad

  • decides what we pay attention to

  • prioritises important tasks when overloaded with information

  • switch attention between visual and auditory tasks.

episodic buffer

• integrates information from long-term memory with current working memory

• can process both visual and verbal information; is a “back up” store

consolidation / rehearsal

transfers info from working memory into long-term storage

serial position effect

we have better memory for first items and last items on an item list

• primary effect: we remember first items better

• Recency effect: we remember last items better

explicit memory

• requires conscious or intentional memory retrieval

• includes declarative, episodic and sematic memory

declarative memory

• memory of factual information

episodic memory

• memory of personal experiences / events

sematic

• memory of general knowledge / facts

implict memory

• memory that influences our behaviour without conscious awareness

procedural memory

• memory of learnt skills / actions

structural processing

• encoding of the physical qualities of a word (least effective)

phonemic processing

• encoding the sounds of a word

sematic processing

• encoding the deeper meaning of word

context dependent recall

• better context cues help us remember info (cues in our external environment)

• e.g. divers learning words on land vs underwater

state dependent recall

• easier to remember events that match your mood

• e.g. being angry triggers past memories of anger

songlines

• indigenous people use song, storytelling, dance and painting to retain and pass on information over generations

flashbulb memories

vivid, emotional, detailed memories of important events

hippocampus

responsible for long term memory, declarative memory and memory consolidation

amygdala

responsible for emotional memories

cerebellum

responsible for procedural memories

thalamus

responsible for encoding & retrieval

prefrontal cortex

responsible for working memory

amnesia

temporary or permanent severe memory loss due to illness

retrograde amnesia

memory loss for events that occurred before the onset of amnesia

anterograde amnesia

 memory loss for events that occurred after the onset of amnesia.

Infantile amnesia

memory loss for early experiences

dementia

 impaired memory and cognitive deficits caused by brain degeneration.

alzheimer’s disease

progressive brain disorder caused by dementia

hyperthymestic syndrome

condition where you can vividly recall nearly all your memories in extreme details

method of loci / memory palace

items are mentally placed in familiar locations and you “walk through” that area to remember the items.

misinformation effect

• An event happens, then there's another event afterwards that will distort your recall of the first event

memory as a constructive proces

• information comes from many external and internal sources, which we mentally piece together

• external: tv, conversations, events you witnessed

• internal: thoughts, imagination, personal ideas

schemas

• mental frameworks that help to group, organise and interpret information

• based on past experiences

• can lead us to encode and retrieve info in ways that fit in with our pre-existing assumptions

how schemas affect memory

• schemas help fill in missing information, but they can also create memory errors.

• the brain uses expectations to “fill gaps” in memory.

heuristics

• mental shortcuts used for fast decision-making based on incomplete infomation

• is intuitive and effective, but subject to bias

availability heuistic

• if something comes to mind easily, we will think it is more common & important

recognition heuristic

• if we are more familiar with something, we will think it is more important

anchoring & adjustment heuristic

• relying on the first piece of information and adjusting from there